Plague Doctor-Chapter 509: The Shadow in the Forest

The night was dark and a strange rustling was coming out from the forest at the southern side of Eastern State. The birds quieted as an unknown creature slipped between the trees. A wild hen immediately scurried from her nest and made her escape. The shadow locked onto its target and pounced. Its claws grabbed the hen's tail feather. The hen clucked. She allowed her feathers to be torn. Then she flapped her wings and disappeared into the bush. The shadow was about to follow when it tripped on a rotten branch on the ground. It lost its pursuit. 

"It's hard to hunt when you're hungry… The food is getting fewer and less but they claim this is the best diet they have come up for us Zoogs. Do humans really understand our needs? We've been tricked here for unpaid labor, o woe is my name!" The shadow was a fat Zoog, it had been assigned to the Eastern State for a month already and it lost so much weight. That aside, the workload was also heavy, it felt like a fatty was sitting on its neck. Being lazy was difficult as well because each Zoog had a GPS tracker strapped to them as well as a mini camera. In other words, they had lost their freedom. As long as there was a signal, the moment they slacked off, it would be seen by the Phecda surveillance centre. If there was no signal… then it was cue for them to hurry away because those places were extremely dangerous. No one would come save them if they were in danger.

There were of course missions that required the Zoogs to not wear the track to keep their presence unknown but the camera was still recording. The video would be scrutinized so they still could not slack off. Humans, cunning humans, humans who were experts at making other people work. 

The Zoogs even had to worry that someone was watching when they used the toilet. If they took too long in the toilet, their pay would be deducted and they had to write a report about it. Due to the mini cameras, the fat Zoogs had shed many tears. But on the other hand, for their own safety, they gritted their teeth and worked hard.

'Abnormal creature, abnormal creature… where are you…' 

The fat Zoog dragged its thinning body into a spot that had no signal and decided to sit down for a rest. Then it picked itself up and continued to wander about. The Zoogs had a natural talent of running into gossip and accidents. They depended not only on their nose but their feet as well. They had a kind of sensory talent that they could not describe. They would often walk into strange events, they were walking information radar. Therefore, when the Zoogs had no attending mission, they would wander around uninhabited places like forests and deserts like scouts.

The reason the fat Zoog was there that day, other than to capture the hen, was because it sensed something strange here. It might just be the wind. 

The fat Zoog stepped on the yellowed leaves and walked further. The darkness did not hinder its beady eyes. Fall had arrived at this forest. A wind picked up and it carried a light scent of blood with it. The fat Zoog twitched its nose. Its fatty body shivered, this was not a good smell…

Even though it had not run across any abnormal creatures since its postage on Earth, it had crossed some in Dreamlands. It could thus differentiate the stink unique to creatures that fed on darkness from other smells, that was the scent in the air now. But with another draft, the smell disappeared.

"It's nothing, you can't scare me." The fat Zoog patted its chest to calm its beating heart. "Cowardly Zoog, that is just a beast munching into another beast. They are so barbaric. Blood pours everywhere when they feed. Unlike us Zoogs who at least cook the meal first." But what kind of beast was feasting? 

The fat Zoog was curious, it wanted to take a better look. This was Zoog nature. Stepping on the cushiony soil, the fat Zoog crossed a river when it heard a strange howl in the wind. It sounded the mixed howls of many beasts. There was fear and it was also spreading fear. The fat Zoog shivered but his curiosity won out. "It's fine. It's just the rats, yes, has to be the rats. They are fighting for food. These humans have such horrible eyes, they say we look like rats. So preposterous…" 

The fat Zoog grumbled as it moved forward, it wanted to see what kind of rats were causing it so much noise. It turned a corner and looked up into the branches. It finally saw it, and its fur bristled. 'What, what is that thing?'

The fat Zoog saw 4 goat hooves, each of them the size of a small tree. They were black in color and red capillaries were exposed on the bark-like skin. These 4 giant hooves supported a strange giant body. It was a meatball. Numerous black tentacles grew on the surface and some were still dripping blood. Other than the tentacles, there were so many mouths. They were sticky with green liquid. Each of the mouths was munching on a dead body, there were rats, hens and other animals like boars, wolves… They were being eaten and joined together.

The strange smell the Zoog discovered in the wind came from this thing. The strange sound it heard came from the mouths. 

The bodies strung on the mouths, they were not yet dead. The animals were still groaning. And this thing had discovered it. In the strange meatball, a single eye opened. Blood flowed through it. 

The fat Zoog took a deep swallow of saliva.

"I'm just passing through…" Before the thing reacted, the fat Zoog screamed and turned to escape from the way it came from.